


Staring Into Open Flames

by candiedvoltage



Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Angst and Feels, Bisexual Female Character, Bucky’s arm, Coffee Shops, Cunnilingus, F/F, F/M, Friends With Benefits, Fucking, Kissing, Lesbian Sex, Oral Sex, Porn with Feelings, Sex, Shameless Smut, Work In Progress, plot bunnies run amok
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-29
Updated: 2018-07-15
Packaged: 2018-12-21 09:14:50
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 15,735
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11941002
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/candiedvoltage/pseuds/candiedvoltage
Summary: Steve doesn’t do this.  He’s, in fact, never done this before.“Is anyone sitting here?” He asked, proud of his voice for not cracking.  She shook her head from side to side.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Well, this just got away from me. Far, far away.
> 
> ***I needed to edit this something fierce. I haven't changed anything major, just correcting grammatical mistakes and the like. I hope to add something soon.***

“God, you’re warm,” she exhaled across his ear. Her legs tightened around him. Her hands, cold as ever, traced paths of ice across the muscles in his upper back as he lifted her up and down onto his hard length. One strong arm wrapped around her waist, the other pushed against the mattress behind him and her back arched. 

Steve wanted to watch her all night. The way she let her head fall back as he nipped her neck, the way her breasts moved and swayed, and most of all, the way she fell apart as she came, trembling and saying his name like a prayer.

Mouth slightly opened, her short nails carving small indentations into his shoulders, she tightened on him and around him, and it was all he could do to keep from coming himself. Her body seemed cold everywhere but where their skin touched, and especially where they were connected. Buried inside of her, he felt her warmth. Steve thought he might be on fire as her body squeezed his, her gasps broken by the sob of her little death. 

He came with her, his release pumping into her, his warmth finding its way to her body. 

 

————————————————————————————

Steve doesn’t do this. He’s, in fact, never done this before. 

“Is anyone sitting here?” he asked, proud of his voice for not cracking. Hailey shook her head from side to side.

“Hi, I’m Steve,” he said, introducing himself to the girl in the overstuffed chair across the table from him. 

She smiled up at him a little and offered her hand as she moved to halfway sit, halfway stand. 

“I’m Hailey.” She had a firm handshake, but her fingers were frigid. He could still feel where their skin touched after she’d pulled her hand back. 

“Mind if I join you, Hailey?” Steve asked, gesturing to the empty chair. 

“Be my guest.” 

Hailey answered his grin with a wave of her hand. He nodded, took the seat, and she was already buried her nose back in her book. 

 

————————————————————————————

That was Tuesday morning, and this was Thursday night, and she was in his bed. 

Again. 

“And I thought I had a high libido,” she murmured, her head on his chest, one cold hand across his heart. 

“I, um, just run hot, naturally,” Steve stumbled out. Frigid fingertips left a wake of goosebumps where they traced around his chest. Her touch was driving him mad. She continued the looping motions as her hand started to make its way to his abs, then his hips. Steve kissed her hair before letting his eyes close, a moan thrumming in the back of his throat, his much warmer hand slightly running the short distance of her spine. 

“I like your heat,” she whispered, pulling a thigh over his thickly muscled one and rubbing slowly up and down. 

“I, um, just run cold, naturally,” she mimicked him as her fingertips found their destination. His chuckle was cut off by a gasp as she traced around the head of his dick with her index finger. Slowly, she wrapped the rest of her fingers around him and gave a slight tug. He was hard almost immediately, and she could hear his heartbeat pick up. Her hand glided up and down the length of him as she started laying light kisses on his chest. 

Pushing herself up with her arm, she raised her head up his chest until she was kissing his lower jaw. 

“Steve.” She moaned his name as if it were something sacred. He grabbed a handful of her ass, squeezing. The noise she made in response went straight to his spine. Even her cheeks were chilly to the touch. He wanted to warm her through. No, he wanted to bury himself within her body, again and again.

Reaching across his body, he grabbed her thigh, dislodging the hand she had around him. Barely using his considerable strength, he positioned her body over his own. She laughed until his mouth caught hers. Steve kissed her like she was his first and his last kiss. Her lips were soft, her tongue finding his before she bit his bottom lip. 

“Hailey,” Steve sighed as they parted. He reached around her to feel the proof of her arousal gather between her legs. Spreading her wetness over her entrance, Hayley’s body responded as her hips started to grind against his. His cock head replaced his fingers as he parted her soft folds. 

“Yes. Please, Steve, I need you.” 

With a deep and low, “fuck,” Steve pushed himself into her depths once again, reveling in the slow push and her tight pussy. He swore to God that she was created just for him. 

 

———————————————————————————

He couldn’t keep himself from staring at the girl across the table from him. Steve had a feeling she knew he was watching but he couldn’t pull his gaze away from her. She had these light bluish gray eyes that reminded him of Bucky’s but maybe a touch lighter. They almost looked like the photos he’d seen of ice under the Arctic. 

A long braid of white blonde hair peeked out from under a knit cap and fell down her shoulder. Steve admitted that the bookstore they were currently in was kept cold for their patrons, but it was July and hot outside. After taking in her appearance, he thought she might be cold if the sweater whose buttons she kept fidgeting with were any indication. 

“I’m gonna get something from the cafe. Would you mind saving my seat?” He found himself asking as he set his book down and standing up.

“Don’t mind a’tall,” she answered, her eyes meeting his finally as she turned the page in her book. 

“May I get you something?”

Raising her eyes to his and closing her book over what looked like a receipt to hold her place, she reached into her small purse. 

Steve shook his head and held out his hand. “My treat… what would you like?”

“Oh. Um, just a coffee, please.” Her smile grew. 

“One coffee coming up,” he repeated. “Cream and sugar?”

“Nope. Just black. Thanks.”

 

————————————————————————————

 

“Fuck. Fuuuuuck. Yes.” 

He could barely hear the words she said over the sounds of the bed and their bodies colliding, but as she sank back down on him, he felt pure bliss. 

She was soft and wet, and her body was holding onto his as much as humanly possible. The muscles inside her entrance felt as if they were coaxing his release just as much as hers. And if he didn’t move them into a different position, this round was going to be over much faster than he would like. 

At some point, he’d closed his eyes. It made all of his other senses heightened, but he was missing one hell of a show as she rode him, her hands pushing on his chest, her tits moving in time with their thrusts. Opening his eyes, he found her watching him as he’d watched her. 

Steve raised his torso enough that he could capture one nipple with his mouth, his eyes never leaving hers. Parting his lips, he let his tongue trace over the small mound of tightened skin. Her moans reached his ears and ran straight to his spine where they took hold. He was wholly absorbed with this creature, and he couldn’t break their gaze. 

Hailey leaned her body back, and Steve chased her until he almost bent in half. In one fluid movement, he had her pinned beneath him. He started driving into her with more force.

“You feel amazing in me, Steve,” she whimpered as she squeezed him. “Harder. Please, harder. I won’t break.”

“Fuck.” 

It was his turn to gasp and curse as he pulled himself almost entirely out before slamming back in. “I want you to come on me. I need you to come on me, Hailey. I want to feel you.” 

It was then that he felt her tighten around him, the light flutters within her walls driving him to the edge. He started pounding into her body as she clamped down on his dick with a force he didn’t know she had. Gasps of words filled the room as she was milking his cock and soon he was chasing her into bliss, their eyes never leaving one another’s. 

 

———————————————————————————

 

She smiled up at him. “Oh, that’s nice,” she murmured, taking a deep breath as she wrapped her small hands around the cup of coffee. “Thank you.” 

“My pleasure,” Steve answered as he sipped his drink while he returned to his seat. Somehow he managed to dribble coffee down his light blue shirt. “Dammit,” he whispered, looking at the trail of brown spots that were now prominently on display. 

Her movement caught his eye. “Here, use my hanky. It’s clean, I promise,” Hailey offered from across the table. He reached out and took the brightly colored fabric from her fingers. 

“Thanks.” 

Steve tried to get as much coffee off of his clothes as he could, but the stains were there to stay. Untucking his button down didn't help, and Steven sighed as he took in his now disheveled appearance. 

“Do you have on another shirt underneath?” she asked. Returning her gaze, he nodded. “Well, unbutton that one and pull it apart. It’ll be less noticeable that way,” Hailey offered. 

Taking her advice, Steve unfastened each button on his shirt and let it fall to the sides.

“Oh, maybe not.” she chuckled. Dark brown circle and dribbles of the coffee had managed to stain all the way through his clothes. Repositioning herself in the chair, Hailey spoke in a stage whisper, “Hold a book to your chest. I’ll be the only one who knows.” She ran her eyes over his body with a smile. 

Steve thought he’d imagined it but her eyes seemed to sparkle for a brief moment and he couldn’t help but return her smile. 

“I’ll take this home and wash it,” he motioned to her handkerchief. 

“Uh huh. And how would you get it back to me?” the blonde asked.

Steve paused. 

“Well, I guess I would need your number.”

———————————————————————————


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Hailey watched as his gaze flicked between her eyes and she could almost feel his brain working. She was very aware of his other hand on her hip and she raised her left hand to his shoulder."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One hell of a plot bunny.

The morning sun peeked in through his blinds and caught the shock of blonde hair across his pillow. Sliding his left arm under the said pillow, he moved behind the female form in his bed, breathing in the smell of her, wrapping his arm around her waist. 

She was cold to the touch and if she hadn’t made noise, he might’ve felt for her pulse. 

“Good morning.” He whispered into her ear. Thoughts of the previous evening, and the evening before that flashed across his mind and his erection made itself known. He wanted her just like this, her back to his front, his arms holding onto her for all he was worth, warming her up. 

“Steve,” she moaned as she ground her rear into his groin. “Don’t tease. It’s not polite this early,” she mumbled into her pillow.

Steve let his right hand make its way over her hip and dip into the small strip of fur between her legs. Her lower lips were bare and when she lifted her right leg to hook behind her on his hip, he had proof he wasn’t alone thinking of an early morning tryst. 

Hailey stretched against him like a cat but the noises she was making were more feral. Taking the three middle fingers of his right hand, he rubbed her closed entrance, spreading her wetness across her lips and causing her breath to hitch. Pushing his middle finger between her folds, she moaned and arched against his touch. 

“Teasing doesn’t include follow-through.” He growled into her ear before sucking the lobe into his mouth as he slowly inserted one finger into her body. Several strokes in slow succession, he added another finger and felt her telltale tightening. 

“Mmmm. If you intend on following-through, you might wanna… you might… fuck… right there…” her words trailed off as he rubbed his thumb around her clit, feeling her moisture gathering on his hand. “Oh God,” she blasphemed. And she came. Hard. Steve holding her body and feeling his own excitement increase as he watched her react to his movements.

“You were saying?” He grumbled before kissing her cheek and her jaw. He let out a hiss as he felt her fingers on his length pressed up against the cleft of her ass. 

Running her fingers up his shaft, she finished her sentence. “I was saying, that if you intend to follow-through, you might wanna join in.” He was not expecting her to reach even further down to trace lightly over his balls. The groan that escaped was not ignored by her as he felt her ass grinding against his crotch. She positioned her torso away from Steve, but it aligned her with him perfectly and he only had to rock a little to rub the head of his cock through her lips.

Their forms fit together like puzzle pieces. “How do you feel even better than before?” He asked as he lost himself in her. “So wet. So tight…” he whispered as he pushed and pulled himself into absolute ecstasy. Somehow he thought to be grateful that he’d gotten her off already because he was having trouble concentrating on anything at that precise moment. And then she squeezed him, his hand on her hip, and he watched her turn to look at him over her shoulder. 

“Yes, there. Right there. More… please. More,” she chanted at him, her blue eyes staring into his soul. He came and she came and a shiver ran all the way up his spine. 

 

————————————————————————————

 

She felt his eyes on her again. Smoothly he’d managed to get her number and ask her to join him that evening for a movie. Actually, he invited her for a coffee that evening, but then realized they were already doing that. 

They’d both resettled back into the chairs with their respective books. Hailey had to admit that he was easy to look at but she really liked watching his eyes crinkle a bit when he smiled. This time, she looked up and yup, he was looking. She smiled. Really, she didn’t want him to stop looking. Dropping her gaze, she picked back up in her story. 

Maybe an hour passed, maybe just a moment, but she realized she’d read the same passage for the sixth time in a row and she still had no idea what it was talking about. Her brain was too busy asking questions about how his lips would feel. Or how they would taste. With more force than she meant, she closed her book. 

Steve looked jarred at her sudden movement like he was snapping out of a dream. She knew how he felt. 

“You wanna blow this popsicle stand?” She asked as she leaned over for her purse.

There was that smile again. “Absolutely.” 

 

————————————————————————————

 

Salt. His lips tasted like salt and his tongue of root beer. It was her root beer but he finished his Coke halfway through the movie and she didn’t want to lose the heat of his body pressed close to hers in the theater. 

They were leaving the theater when it started to rain, ever so gently. People scurried on the sidewalk beside them but she stopped walking. Because she’d done it since she was a child, Hailey tilted her head to look up into the falling water, and she closed her eyes. She relished the feel of the small droplets hitting her face. Then she felt his heat behind her, a wisp of breath in her right ear, and his hand barely on her right hip. 

Steve wasn’t intrusive and he wasn’t invading her space. He was a comforting presence behind her in the hubbub of the foot traffic. His left hand settled on her elbow but he wasn’t moving her. Hailey felt like he was protecting her, making sure no one else would disturb her moment in the drizzle. She suspected no one would miss his large form near the building and therefore, no one was yelling at her to move it. For once, she didn’t mind feeling like a transplant in the city. 

Slowly she turned into his arms. His hair was starting to stick to his forehead as droplets collected on the blonde ends. He raised his hand and ran his thumb over her bottom lip, pulling the water that was collecting there away. 

Hailey watched as his gaze flicked between her eyes and she could almost feel his brain working. She was very aware of his other hand on her hip and she raised her left hand to his shoulder. 

Barely above a whisper, she simply uttered the words he didn’t know he needed to hear.

“Do it.”

“Yes ma’am,” his only reply before his lowered his mouth to hers. 

 

————————————————————————————

 

Hailey really hoped Steve wasn’t putting her up on a pedestal. It’d happened to her before; she’d fall headfirst into a hot romance, the guy would be all about her, then he’d disappear. She knew when she was being ghosted but that doesn’t make it feel better. She also knew she had her, um, issues. 

But what would a book-loving guy who made her see stars the past three evenings do if he knew the truth? Would he ghost, give up, or turn her into some type of experiment. 

Her body, while outwardly was considered attractive, did things, well, a little bit different. As if he knew she was thinking of him, her phone vibrated with a text message asking her to dinner. 

They were doing this thing backward. But it felt right. Steve was easy to talk to when they talked. He was smart enough to admit when he didn't know about a topic she would bring up but then he’d ask inquisitive questions and postulate basic theories and if someone could fall in love with a person’s brain, well, then she was gone for his. 

 

————————————————————————————

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and suggestions feed my muse. Please consider donating.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Did she know she was sleeping with Captain America? He didn’t know that answer. Steve wasn’t sure he wanted to know that answer. He wasn’t even sure she recognized him."

As far as Steve knows, his relationship with Hailey is a secret and he’d like to keep it that way, thank you very much. That is if you could even call it a relationship at this point. Two months have passed since the day he dribbled his coffee down his shirt. Two months since he kissed her on the sidewalk in the rain. Two months of looking forward to something. Sixty plus days of waiting for that “good morning, beautiful” text to be answered. Eight weeks of the best sex of his life. 

Did she know she was sleeping with Captain America? He didn’t know that answer. Steve wasn’t sure he wanted to know that answer. He wasn’t even sure she recognized him. She’s never asked and he’s never offered it. He took her at her word that she was a writer and she seemed to take his word that he worked in personal security. 

So yeah, they have a relationship. Their dates never took them into large crowds where someone might place his face with that of the national icon. A little bit of scruff and a baseball hat were surprisingly good at keeping people from guessing his identity. There were no tabloid pics of him with his hand in front of the camera, trying to shield her from prying eyes. Steve had rarely been happier. 

Of course, Natasha noticed. She gave him her signature head raise as she watched him leave for a dinner with Hailey. If anyone else knew, they kept their mouths shut. Steve was ok with that. 

 

—————————————————————————————

He felt himself staring at her again but he couldn’t stop. She was wearing a blue dress that wrapped around her torso and tied on one hip and a v-neck that dipped daringly low. Steve had to summon all of the discipline the ARMY had instilled in him to keep his eyes above her neck. His fingers itched to pull on the fabric ends of the knot and unwrap her. 

Hailey took one last bite of her dessert and smiled at Steve across the table as she raised her napkin to her lips. Tonight, they’d talked about art. Color her surprised that a man who looked to spend all of his free time in the gym would be so knowledgeable about some of the great masters.

Over her slight objection, he paid the bill for dinner. “I asked you out, therefore it’s my treat,” he said as he slid a card into the ticket folder and handed it back to the server. Walking back to her home, she struggled to keep up with Steve’s fast pace. 

“Heading to a fire?” She asked as they paused at a crosswalk. He looked down at her for a moment and Hailey felt her self-falter as she stepped out into the crosswalk. Grabbing her hand, he leads her down the street and to another crosswalk. 

Steve was behind her while they waited and she felt him lean over her shoulder. “I can’t stop thinking about kissing you,” he breathed lowly into her ear. If her panties hadn’t been damp just from the way he filled out his dark gray button down, they were now. 

The light turned and they were off again, this time with Hailey leading the way. Now she couldn’t stop thinking about his lips. Turnabout’s-fair-play indeed. She wondered what the rest of him felt like. She pulled him into the ancient elevator in her building and pushed her floor button. 

“Not here,” she whispered as he crowded her against the wall, his arms bracketing her shoulders as he nuzzled his nose against her neck. 

“Of course, not on a first date,” he replied. She was sure he could hear her heartbeat. Hailey could feel it in her ears, the deep thumping sounds of her attraction making it hard for her to hear much else. Leaning back, Steve stared down into her eyes and she felt for a moment she could see all the way to his soul. The blue of his irises barely showing around the deep dark pools of black and it struck her; if she had been reading him, she knew he was reading her. 

The ding of the carriage reaching her floor sounded out and Hailey released a breath she didn’t realize she had been holding. That snapped them of their staring contest and she made her way out of his almost embrace and down the hall. Fumbling with her keys, she closed her eyes for a moment at her door. 

“You make me not be able to think, Steve,” she breathed.

Deliberately she pushed the key into the lock and turned the knob. Hailey pushed the door shut after Steve entered her loft and made his way inside but she didn’t move, her hand behind her still on the deadbolt she’d just twisted to lock. Turning to look at her, Steve seemed puzzled that she wasn’t already in the room with him.

Another moment passed between them. Some type of understanding floated in the air without words. 

When he took the sudden steps towards her, she reached her hands out, one landing on his chest, the other wrapping itself around the back of his head as he sealed his mouth against hers, his body pinning her against her door. 

This kiss was different. Hailey couldn’t tell if Steve sighed or moaned or maybe both as his hands settled on her waist. He teased her ribs with his thumbs, rubbing in small arcs through her shirt and she felt her spine ignite with the warmth of his body against hers. 

She sucked his lower lip into her mouth between her teeth and bit down ever so softly, running her tongue across it. Both of his hands tightened on her waist and this time she knew he moaned. It was deep and rumbled through the expanse of his chest and might be the most primal sound she’d ever heard. She tugged at the hair on the back of his head as she pulled off of his lip. Steve let his mouth trace down her jaw until he’d captured the lobe of her left ear and Hailey could feel the hairs on her arms rise as she felt his breath on her neck. 

“I never do this.” He whispered into her hair, running his hands over her hips, allowing one to reach behind her and stretch over her ass check. She couldn’t stop the gasp that escaped. Hailey had several places on her body that were sensitive and seemingly connected straight to her clit. With a hand full of her left ass cheek, Steve gave a firm squeeze pulling her hips into his and Hailey felt her panties grow wet with the movement. She also felt his hardness and that made her want him even more. 

Gasping into thin air, she replied, “I don’t care, Steve.”

“Don’t care?” He asked, pulling his head back far enough to look her in the eye. “Don’t care about what?” Steve was confused. Then again, his brain was probably lacking blood. 

Hailey’s eyes moved between both of his. “I don’t care if you do this or not. I don’t care if this is something that’s never happened to you before or if it’s your normal Friday routine. It’s just us. Right now, it’s you and me and you sure do feel like the right partner.” 

Steve stilled against her and Hailey silently cursed her mouth for ruining what was the hottest moment of her fucking life. Literally.

She didn’t see him move. She didn’t blink and she didn’t look away. Without warning, he’d lifted her, slamming her against her door, and Hailey wrapped her bare legs tight around his waist as he ground his entire body against hers. This kiss… this kiss was deep and rough and fierce. A piece of iron from the blacksmith’s shop replaced her spine and she could feel her orgasm building as she rubbed her panty-covered mound against his very apparent erection. 

“Steve,” she gasped. “I want you…now.” His moan was the only reply she heard as she rubbed up and down on his dick one more time. Steve shifted his hands and leaned back enough to pull her away from the door. As he turned, still holding onto with one hand, she felt his other hand pulling the tie on her dress. He was walking further into her loft, holding her up one-handed. How fucking strong was this guy? 

“Up ahead and to your left,” She whispered to him. When he stopped walking, he returned both hands to her thighs and started to pull her off of him. Setting her gently back on her feet, he guided her arms to her sides. Reaching for the edges of her dress, Steve opened it like a piece of fragile mail. One slightly rough index finger traced under the edge of fabric over her shoulder enough to cause the material to slide back, barring her bra strap and soft skin. The thumb of his left hand pulled the dress off the other shoulder and the garment pooled around her feet leaving her bare, save her bra and panties. Neither of the undergarments were doing their jobs at the moment as Hailey was fairly certain her body’s excitement was apparent. She reached up to start on his buttons as his hands found the clasp holding her bra to her body. She felt him pull the straps down her arms and moved to let it fall to the floor. Before she could resume her task with his shirt, Steve tucked his fingers into her panties and slowly dragged them down her body. 

Hailey widened her stance slightly so the triangles of silk and lace would glide off of her hips and down her legs. Steve helped her step out of the pair and Hailey watched as he tucked them into his pocket. 

Still, in a crouch, Steve looked up, his gaze tracing the lines of her body. Pale skin that competed with the blonde hair cascading over her shoulders ran the entire length and distance of her curves. Full breasts with dusty pink nipples sat above a narrow waist and hips that flared out. For a moment, Steve thought that she was the epitome of a hour-glass figure. A small patch of blonde curls was nestled over her core. Well-muscled thighs flowed into toned calves as it all culminated in the modest heels that were still on her feet. 

“Christ,” He whispered, letting his fingers trace up the back of her legs. “I feel like I’m dreaming. How are you real?” He leaned in to kiss the inside of one thigh and Hailey closed her eyes and lightly placed her hand in his hair. 

Soft lips and wet tongue found its way further up her legs until his nose was buried in the patch of fur that barely covered her lips. “Hailey. Tell me if you want me to stop.” 

Opening her eyes to his stare, she smirked. “Don’t you fucking stop.”

The animalistic growl that came from below her would’ve been more frightening had Hailey been thinking clearly. However, her brain was currently trying to process all of the sensations his sinful tongue was eliciting between her legs. One broad swipe against her sealed nether lips almost brought her to her knees. 

“You’re so wet.” He murmured, nose pressing against her small bundle of nerves.

Steve moved forward onto his knees as he dove into eating her like his last meal on earth. She gasped, barely able to breathe as his drug his tongue over her lips with another brood stroke and Hailey had to steady herself with hands on his shoulders. His tongue then parted her folds and Steve started sucking and nibbling along her line. She put one hand on his head and pulled him tighter to her. 

“It’s all for you,” she moaned as a small rush of her excitement flowed into his mouth. One strong hand squeezed her ass as his tongue parted her and dove into her core. The heat from his mouth and hands had Hailey combined with the magic Steve was dealing had her teetering on the edge of orgasm. She could barely stand up, legs trembling in his grasp. “Steve, I’m close… So close.” 

It was as if those were the magic words. A long finger slid easily into her and was joined by another as his tongue moved to lave over her clit. Pulling off of the bundle for a moment, she heard one word.

“Come.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *posts then runs away*
> 
> I hope you enjoy this!


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I couldn’t tell you.” She replied, barely above a whisper. “I… I… I just couldn’t say it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story was supposed to be a fluffy little plot bunny with a bunch of sex and not much else. Then my friend and I started discussing what could happen, and, well, dear readers, this story is what I picked out. I hope you enjoy.

“You could’ve told me!!!” Steve’s voice bellowed across the table at her. She was shaking in her chair, whether from his anger and hurt or from the day’s event, Hailey wasn’t sure. Barely raising her eyes to his, she felt her lip quiver.

“I couldn’t tell you.” She replied, barely above a whisper. “I… I… I just couldn’t say it.”

A breath passed between them. Silence shattered by his shout, Steve's anger still ringing through the air. “Why not? What on Earth could keep you from telling me?” He slammed his hands on the tabletop, startling Hailey.

He didn’t get it. Surely he didn’t get it.

“Because you’re Captain America, Steve!” She spat out. Hailey felt her emotions rearranging, the hurt turning into rage of its very own. She gripped the sides of the chair she was seated in, trying to gather her strength.

Steve’s expression changed instantly, and he looked like he'd been doused with water. That crease that split his eyebrows when he was pissed settled into his perfectly smooth skin, and he took a deep breath before muttering, “What did you just say?”

Hailey was seething at this point, her hands shaking for different reasons now.

“You and your enhanced hearing heard me, Commander.”

"You recognized me, then?  In the alley?"  He asked, his voice strained almost to the point of breaking.

If this was the end of them, she was going out with a bang, leaving nothing on the field, no stone unturned, and any other metaphor that could be used to described laying all of her cards on the table. “You are Captain America, and I am not completely human.”

Time passed. Moments turned into minutes, and Hailey felt as if the world ceased to exist outside of their argument. Steve stood abruptly and left, taking the air out of the room with him.

Hailey felt the tears run down her face, freezing drops of liquids that clattered like kicked stones when they hit the floor. Looking at her hands, she noticed how light her skin had become. This progression was nothing new to her. She’d fought it her entire existence. Pink turns pale, then white, until the blue tint would creep in and eventually the purple would take over.

She may be a descendant of Ymir, but the human part of her couldn’t balance the cold pieces, and Hailey figured that she might freeze to death this time.

\-------------------------------------------------------  
Morgan found Hailey slumped onto the couch the next day, her fingertips blue and her lips cold as ice.

“HAILEY!” her friend shouted at her while she stroked her arms. “Hailey, wake up. Come on, ice queen, I need you to open those beautiful, beautiful eyes.” Hailey could hear her friend, feeling the warmth on her arms. The voice sounded like that of an angel, like that of a best friend who loved her no matter what she was or what she did.

Cracking her left eye open, she caught the dark grey eyes of Morgan. “Hey you,” she muttered, her voice sounding like broken glass. “You here or am I dreaming?”

Morgan laughed and slowly draped a blanket around Hailey’s shoulders. “Oh, I’m not your dream girl. Not this time.” Reaching down, the friend found the control box and switched the heat on. Hailey sighed as the girl with the purple hair picked up both of her hands and blew a warm breath across them.

“Do I dare ask?”

Hailey's eyes betrayed her. “He knows. And he left. And I just couldn’t anymore. I just couldn’t…” the tears started to form again. Morgan sat down beside Hailey and pulled the king-sized electric blanket around them both. Situating her friends’ frigid legs in her lap, she enveloped her with her human warmth.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay. Cry it out. I know I can’t get you back to 100%, but you can take from me what you need for now,” she told her friend. Hailey cast her pale blue eyes at her, and she nodded.

“Ok. Lemme know if it’s too much.”

“Always,” Morgan laughed at her. Reaching up, she cupped her friend’s face in her hands and kissed her, her warm lips crashing into the almost frozen mouth. Moving their bodies across the couch, Morgan let her friend lay back on the heated blanket as the woman ran her hands across her neck and traced her arms. Hailey had rarely looked this fragile, her skin so very pale, as if she were candy-glass and Morgan knew it was time to speed up their contact.

Everywhere she touched was painfully frigid and it struck Morgan how close her friend had come to dying. Running her hands down Hailey’s torso, she lifted the soft cotton t-shirt and made contact with her abdomen, the skin there as cold as meat in a butcher shop’s counter.

“Hailey, Hailey, Hailey-girl,” she whispered as her hands ran over the familiar lines and across the skin that she knew like it was her own. Streaks of the pinkish skin resulting from her repeating patterns and the blue of Hailey’s lips was slowing changing, bleeding into a more human color. “That’s it, take my warmth. Take what you need.”

“I need a lot this time.” Hailey barely whispered, eyes fluttering as her back arched under the touch.

Morgan stopped her ministrations and made Hailey look her in her eyes. “Take it.”

Crashing lips and heated breath tangled with cold limbs and frigid sighs. Morgan covered Hailey’s body with her own, letting one hand find it’s way to the top of her leggings. Shoving her hand between them, she discovered the spot she was looking for, and she felt for the familiar signs of Hailey heating up under her touch.

Finding her damp, she lightly parted Hailey’s nether lips, gathering the moisture on her fingertips before rubbing across her nub of nerves. Hailey sighed, and more pink skin covered her face and neck than blue. Rocking on her hand, Morgan felt her friend’s hand cover her own, and she knew that tell. One finger slid into her friend, her warmth seeping into her the cold female's skin. Another finger joined and Hailey road on her hand until she was bucking under her.

Morgan would give her all she could, passing her warmth from her own body into that of her friend. But she knew it wouldn’t be enough. It was never enough to keep Hailey warm for long, and if she gave her everything she needed, she’d die herself. They’d tried before, and it ended in near death for them both. Then the thought struck her, and she scrambled to sit up.

“Hailey, what was going on?” Morgan’s eyes looked over every inch of her friend laid out before her. “Before I found you, what were you trying to do?”

Hailey closed her eyes but a tear escaped, and her lips started to tremble.

“I wasn’t trying to do anything. I just wanted not to feel the pain anymore. I was tired of, well, everything.” Her voice was barely above a whisper. “It wasn’t planned. I just, the thought, it was all too much, and I wanted to cease existing.”

Hailey knew Morgan would understand. Every if it never made sense to anyone else, Morgan would get it. Because a few short years prior, Hailey had pulled Morgan out of their crap apartment and put her into a cab, riding with her to an ER for the same exact reason.

One friend grabbed at the other as they held onto each other, both crying at memories old and new. If nothing else, they could be the reason each other chased their happiness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Posts and runs away.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Short, but sweet.

They were planning to meet up for an afternoon coffee before catching an early movie. Hailey was 20 mins away when she got the text from Steve telling her something had come up with his job and he’d have to take a raincheck. It wasn’t the first time this had happened to either of them and she wasn’t terribly worried. 

Pausing at the corner, she decided she’d go ahead to the coffee shop they’d planned on meeting at and enjoy a solo date with just herself and her thoughts. Morgan was off with some fella she’d meet weeks back and Hailey was happy to have some alone time. 

She was about 5 blocks away when she heard the first off-sounding crash and felt the ground under her shake. Living in NY meant that just about anything could happen at anytime. Somehow this felt different, bigger, closer. It frightened Hailey and she decided to duck down an alley to avoid the mass of people on the sidewalks. 

Then the screaming started and Hailey saw at the other end of the alley that people were running frantically. Chaos was erupting from the direction in front of her when she heard the unmistakable Hulk roar. She caught sight of Ironman flying over head in the direction of the madness. That meant Steve was there and whatever he’d cancelled on her for was a local emergency. 

Without realizing it, she ran towards the madness. Grey dust and debris fell around her as she made her way towards the end of the alley. Loud booms shook the buildings around her.

Hailey saw his figure before he saw her. Her attention was drawn to the other man behind the one she knew so well. Her feet sped up under her as she willed her body to move faster. Hailey didn’t want to watch the man she loved die. 

Twenty paces away she watched the stranger raise the gun. 

“No!” Her scream escaped her mouth. 

Not recognizing her own voice, she felt the breath move from between her lips, cold and sharp. Both men turned towards her, but not before the one pulled the back the hammer of the gun. Reaching out with one small frigid hand, Hailey grabbed the barrel and forced each molecule of her body to freeze. The cracking of the metal was audible as all of the heat left the weapon. Ice traveled up onto the other man’s hand as he yelled, dropping his grip on the gun. 

Captain America lifted his shield and connected it with head of the man who was distracted by his now frozen fingers which were rapidly turning black. The other man’s body flew back and crashed into the corner of a building, slumping onto the cement in a unnatural position. 

Hailey didn’t know if the man was dead because she was looking at the very much still alive Captain Rogers standing in front of her. His eyes were wide and he was staring at her hands. The gun, still in her grasp, had icicles hanging from the edges. She dropped it, needing to raise her temperature before the cold overtook her entire body. 

She’d used her full “ability” rarely and she’d never had to use this much. Silently she prayed she hadn’t taken it too far. Then the thought hit her like part of the failing building. 

He recognized her. He knew what she could do, what she was capable of; her secret. And then she felt the ground shake and the darkness was creeping into her vision. Pain exploded across her knees and she realized she was passing out just as everything went sideways and then, black. 

 

————————————————————————————


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I think I’ve got it. Thank you, though,’ The female voice replied. “Gravity is just really bad right there.”

“Fuck!” Steve heard the whispered curse followed by the sound of objects smacking into shelves before the final thud from landing on the ground several aisles over in the stacks.

Another voice echoed in the quiet bookstore. “Did you need help with that?”

“I think I’ve got it. Thank you, though,’ The female voice replied. “Gravity is just really bad right there.”

He chuckled at the joke before a shot of adrenaline coursed through Steve’s veins and his heart pounded in his chest. He knew that voice. Wait, he didn’t just know that voice. That sound was the one that haunted his dreams and nightmares for the past six months. It was the voice that he played over and over again on his voicemails, just to hear it once more. The sweet and somewhat risqué vocal recordings of someone he thought he’d never see in his life after their fateful argument.

Hailey disappeared the night after the spat. Not even Natasha was able to locate her, a feat he was in both measures impressed with and terrified of. Steve wasn’t one hundred percent certain she was still alive, and that was a thought that broke his heart every time it crossed his mind. He’d spent millions of minutes scouring the internet obituaries fearful of finding her name among the thousands of lives that ended every day.

Without realizing it, his feet were taking him out of his aisle and in the direction of that voice. It was that voice that tantalized him and burned across his ears with whispered words of passion and want. That sure sounding voice that told the raunchiest jokes he’d heard since his time with the Commandoes. It was that voice that sang softly to him as she rubbed sore muscles or made dinner for the two of them. It was that voice that his body responded to on the most base level. It was that voice that burned its mark into his soul, and he heard it once again.

Turning the corner, he saw a form standing at the end reaching up to a top shelf. No one else was left in the aisle, and he was beside her stretching his arm for the book that was inches past her fingertips.

“Hey, thanks,” she replied before turning to face him. Darkened hair replaced the shock of platinum he was used to, but her eyes were their same tumultuous blue, her skin the pale color of bone china. He felt the cold brush of her fingertips as she took the proffered book from his hand and a blush ran the course of his spine.

“You’re welcome,” was all he managed to reply. Their eyes flitted back and forth on one another’s face, neither fully comprehending what was happening nor knowing what to do or say next.

She broke the silence. “Steve,” she whispered. He tried to pull his mouth into a smile.

“Hey.”

———————————————————————

 

“Jesus Christ,” Bucky gasped as Steve’s fist punched clear through the bag hanging from the beam in their gym. “Could you not ruin all of our equipment,” his buddy grumbled as he shifted away from the waterfall of sand now covering the gym floor.

Steve glared at him while he watched the bag slowly deflate then he made his way to the giant broom and dustpan in the corner. It wasn’t the first time he’d destroyed a heavy bag, and he knew it would not be the last time. This, the pummeling of the gym equipment, was his way of coping, and from the looks of it, not many people would tell him it wasn’t working.

“Wait, so you make me go to therapy, ‘for my own good and for the good of the team,’ because of my issues but you go mute and imitate Banner on his worst days anytime something bothers you?” Bucky snarked from behind his back. Steve turned, and the look of anger slowly morphed into something else. Bucky exhaled through his nose, and he made his way over to the large rolling trash can in the corner while his best friend attempted to clean up the mess.

They put the cleaning supplies away, and Steve started to unwrap his hands. “I just need to figure some things out.” He muttered under his breath. Bucky turned towards him, placing one hand on Steve’s shoulder.

“Yeah, but you don’t have to do it alone.” Steve looked up at his friend. “Yeah, I know, Buck. And I don’t mean to be mean but how long has it been since you’ve been in a relationship?”

Bucky squeezed Steve’s shoulder a bit. “Well, there is someone I need to introduce you to…”

 

\-------------------------------------------

 

Bucky liked his tucked away little corner of the world. He’d scoped it out, this quintessential hole-in-the-wall bar that smelled of stale cigarettes and cheap beer even though the smoking inside had gone by the wayside decades prior.

Chasing water droplets down the side of his slowly warming beer bottle with his thumb, deep in thoughts about his past, and maybe even dreaming about a future that didn’t involve so much blood, he heard the voice beside him. He didn’t jump, and he’d deny until his last breath that he did.

“Hey, Bill,” she greeted the wrinkled barkeep.

“How’s it going kiddo?” the slightly crippled old man asked as he made his way towards their end of the bar, wiping non-existent wet spots off the wood surface as he went.

Bucky cut his eyes the right. He saw a flash of purple hair and a left arm covered in tattoos.

“Oh, it goes. Johnny Walker Blue, please. Two fingers,” the female voice asked while holding up a peace sign to signal just how much booze she was interested in.

“Stop playing, Mor. You know damn well we don’t carry that fancy shit here. How about your usual?”

Bucky saw Morgan’s shoulders visibly sagged an inch out of the corner of his eye as she let out a fake-sounding sigh. “Fine then, Dewars it is. But one of these days, you’ll either bring in a bottle of Blue or maybe even Lagavulin, and I’ll order some, and it’ll be a good day.”

Bill half-grins at the girl with warm eyes and nods in agreement. “Yeah, that’ll be the day.”  
Bucky just watches the exchange, a sense of familiarity creeping up his neck. He glanced at the door and back at the girl and then he eyes glided over the few other patrons holding up the bar before settling back on the barkeep.

It wasn’t a threatening feeling taking over his thoughts, more curiousness as to how she sat beside him when he didn’t hear the door open as he did with every other patron who’d come or gone. The bell attached to the door frame chimed an irritating tone to let Bill know when he was no longer alone but Bucky hadn’t heard it.

He hadn’t even heard the chair a foot away from him move when she pulled it out to sit in it. Bucky didn’t know Morgan existed until she spoke up to order her drink from Bill. He’d been trained to pick up the most subtle details. If a room was quiet enough, he could hear elevated heart rates. He did not HEAR this girl, and that boggled his mind.

“I can hear you thinking from over here,” Morgan stated.

Bucky finally turned to look at the woman sitting beside him at the bar. Purple hair fell across a pale face with green eyes. Her coat was on the back of her chair, and he could make out Jane Austen quotes on one arm and an octopus wrapped around skulls and a compound microscope in her tattoos. And all of that was just from a cursory glance. The fact that her t-shirt read, “Forget lab safety, I want superpowers!” did not escape his mental catalog of the person at hand. Maybe he should introduce her to Dr. Banner.

“Wow,” she muttered. “You had an entire conversation without me, didn’t you?”

Wait, what?

“I’m sorry. You startled me,” Bucky's soft voice uttered as he put his beer to his lips and took a long pull. He always hated how his voice sounded broken when he hadn't spoken in a while. Just another in a long list of personal qualifications he disliked but yet had no idea how to fix.

The girl was smiling at him as Bill placed her rocks glass in front of her on a small napkin. He looked elsewhere in the bar.

“Morgan, this is Jim. Jim, Morgan,” Bill introduced the pair. Morgan nodded her acknowledgment and Bucky tipped his beer towards her. And then they sat in silence, ignoring one another until Morgan’s glass was dry and Bucky’s bottle empty. He started pulling at the paper label on the side of the beer.

“You know they say that’s a sign of sexual frustration,” Morgan uttered quietly beside him motioning towards the pile of paper pieces he was creating on the bar.

Bucky turned to look at her once more, and she was smiling at him, green eyes sparkling. She had a dimple in one cheek and a smattering of freckles across her nose.

“Oh yeah? And just who are these experts?”

“Oh, you know, the proverbial ‘they’… the omniscient scientist speculators that know ‘everything,’” she replied, crooking her fingers in air quotes.

“Well, ‘they’ don’t know shit.” He huffed back. “What does pulling paper off a bottle have to do with my sex drive?” He asked no one in particular.

“Yeah, what do they know?” she agreed with him. Bill refilled her glass and shuffled away to get Bucky a new beer.

“Come here often?” Bucky asked, not making eye contact.

“Yeah,” Morgan sipped her liquor. “You?”

“Yeah.” He answered.

“Huh.”

“Huh, what?”

“Isn’t it strange that we’ve never met before?” she asked him. Bucky turned his head this time and their eyes connected.

“Hey, Bill, is it true that we both are in here often?” Morgan asked the bartender, her eyes never leaving his.

“Yeah, I’m not answering that question,” Bill grumbled as he walked to the far end of the bar. “Might be some kinda bet and I’m responsible for my own money.”

Bucky’s eyebrows pulled together. The bartender was hiding something. He looked at the beer in his hand and mentally ran over the last few moments in his head. He’d watched Bill pull the beer out of the reach-in cooler under the counter. He’d also watched him remove the cap, and he heard the release of pressure in the bottle. His beer was clean, and he didn’t eat bar snacks because who knows what or whose hands have been in those.

So, what was going on? Was this girl hitting on him? Cause he wasn’t interested in a one night stand.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa…” she snapped at him, sitting up straight on her stool.

Shit.

He’d said that last part out loud. “I’m not here for a one night stand either,” she continued. “I’m here for the booze and the lack of questions. So, if you’d kindly keep your thoughts to yourself, we’ll be just fine.”

Naturally, Bucky had a million things to ask her, and he wanted to ask her RightTheFuckNow. Questions about who she was and what did she want from him? Why was she there?

And most importantly, how the fuck did she sneak up on the Winter Soldier?


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Loved?”
> 
> “Yes, loved,” he replied.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This whole thing hops around, about like the massive plot bunny that it is. I hope you enjoy.

“Who are you?” Steve asks her, yet again. 

The two of them are standing in the middle of an empty building, staring one another down. 

Hailey pulled her eyes away and started looking at the floor, counting the small broken pieces of concrete under her feet. 

“I’m no one.” Her voice was soft, but Steve had no problem hearing her answer. He turned his body towards her briefly before squaring his shoulders and straightening his spine.

“Stop lying to me and answer the question,” his voice answered, lower than before, the words pouring out of him slower with each syllable uttered. “Who are you?”

“I’m not lying,” she glared at him. “I’m not anyone.” Her eyes started glistening with unspent tears. “I’m not fully human. Imma, I’m a thing.” 

One tear escaped and left a silver trail down her cheek before gathering one last moment and dropping onto the floor. His eyes followed the path as if it held all of her secrets in that one tear. 

“Or, maybe I’m a nothing.” Steve heard the crisp tinkle of the teardrop hit. It sounded like a shard of glass meeting its end as it shattered after the first bounce. 

He furrowed his brow, “Hailey, I’m not playing games. Tell me who you are.” There was no question; Captain America was giving her orders now. 

How did it get to this? Morgan and Hailey were so cautious not to expose their real identities to anyone besides each other. They clung to their quiet existence and had no interest in becoming part of this dangerous new world full of superheroes and mega-villains. 

With her voice barely above a whisper, she gave her answer. 

“Please, Steve, I already told you who I am,” she paused for a breath. “My name is Hailey. I’m no one. I’m the thing you should’ve let go.” Her stomach knotted in on itself, and she wasn’t one hundred percent certain she wasn’t going to pass out at any moment. 

Steve pulled his lips into a fine line. “But I couldn’t let you go.” 

“Why not, Steve?” her answer huffed out. “What we had was great. No, it was amazing. But it wasn’t based on truth and trust. So why couldn’t we have a clean break?” Hailey’s voice strained as she started to get worked up. Why couldn’t he have left after their accidental meeting in the bookstore and NEVER CALLED HER AGAIN? 

She could feel her bottom lip tremble, and she watched his eyes dart to see it for himself. 

“Because.”

“Because why, Steve?” Hailey tossed her hands in the air to show how exasperated she was getting. “You tell me why you won’t let go and I’ll tell you what you want to know about me.”

“Fine. It’s because I loved you.” His truth was a dish served hot enough to sear itself into her very soul.

Once, as a child, Hailey watched as a log slid off of a truck and punched its way through the windshield of her uncle’s van she was riding in. They were following too close but not going very fast. The man in the driver’s seat didn't die, but the log pinned her uncle between its end and the driver's position for a considerable amount of time before the first responders were able to move everything to release him without causing other injuries. 

She now knows exactly how her uncle felt with the weight of the immediate crushing onto her chest. 

Her next question struck her like a whip.

“Loved?”

“Yes, loved,” he replied. 

Sudden fear and hopelessness flooded her veins. More tears followed and flowed freely. Her feet felt frozen to the floor, and all she could hear was the rush of her heartbeat inside her chest. Closing her eyes, she straightened her arms and turned her palms towards the floor.

From off in the distance she thought she heard someone calling her name but she could not yet listen. Something cold built up in her chest as her breath struggled to escape. The sound of her tears mimicked rain on a tin roof. A force she’d never felt was gathering in her torso until all at once she raised her head and screamed at its release. 

Ice blasts struck the floor coating the entire room and running up the walls. Icicles hung from the center of the ceiling over their heads. 

Gasping for breath, Hailey fell to her hands and knees, barely holding herself up on the ice-coated floor. She raised her eyes to see Steve looking at her from behind his shield.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “It was good,” Morgan was smiling, remembering the evening. “It was as if I looked over a menu of physical things I could ask for, and I placed my order, and poof, he’s what I got. I freaking ordered off the menu. It was amazing.”

It’s driving him mad. Bucky had just walked out of the Starbucks on 42nd when he felt the need to look across the street. He saw Morgan and some brunette in the Sephora shopping. Morgan’s hair was a new color, but he knew he could recognize her on any street in any city no matter the country. 

It was her tattoos. Bucky was sure he'd remember them the rest of his life. The ones he'd seen were etched into his memory. Morgan could change her hair color, wear colored contacts, dress opposite of her style, and the markings on her skin would give her away. 

He waited on the other side of the street for them to leave so he could say, well, hello or something to them. Maybe he’d get Morgan's number. Bucky didn’t know what he was going to do, but he had to do something. He realized he was nervous. That was something new, for him. 

But the women never left the store. Bucky knows because he watched them the entire time, yet they never exited out onto the busy sidewalks. At first, he was gathering his courage, thinking of what to say, while the two women tested makeup and laughed with one another. 

Then he was curious because they simply disappeared. He made his way across the street, inside the store, and scanning the showroom, confirmed they were nowhere. After asking one of the makeup artists, he knew no one left through the back. 

So where in the fuck did they go?

Morgan had Hailey’s hand gripped tight within her own as they made their way out onto the sidewalk and she shot the now turquoise-haired friend a curious gaze. No questions were asked; none needed to be. They both knew the truth would present itself soon enough, and if one of them were not speaking, there was a damn good reason. 

Hailey saw Morgan’s gaze land on a man with his brown hair pulled into a low bun at the nape of his neck, across the way, as he exited the store they'd been in moments before. He was looking for someone, and Hailey was pretty sure it was her friend. 

Throngs of people pushed past them, and Hailey can tell that Morgan’s got her defenses up pretty high because no one acknowledges them, even when they crash shoulders and purses into the pair. That’s when she sees the guy in the baseball hat heading directly towards before stopping beside the man with the hair across the street from them. Morgan pulled them further into the oncoming crowds of people, and they get pushed onto the very edge of the sidewalk. 

Hailey would recognize the man in the ball cap anywhere. Had he seen her? She didn’t know, but she was not ready. She looked at her friend in time to see an errant shoulder knock Morgan off the sidewalk and directly into the path of an oncoming van. Startled out of her thoughts, she yanked Morgan back onto the walkway. 

The van added it’s horn noise to the sounds of the bustling city street. Bucky’s head turned, and Steve followed his friend’s gaze.

Time stopped. 

Steve saw her, she knew he did, and her stomach lurched. Hailey didn’t want to look away. She knew the hurt was written on her face the second he laid eyes on her. Another pedestrian bumped her, breaking the spell of their stares, and she turned to see the man with the bun mouth the name of her best friend. Looking at Morgan, she saw that they had their gazes locked. Steve moved as if to try to cross the street.

Hailey realizes that Morgan’s let her defenses drop and they are in plain sight because no one is running into them, even though they’re standing still. 

Panicking, Hailey turns, muttering, “Come on!” and drags them both further down the street, and up the stairs into the library. 

Finding themselves immersed in the stacks, they finally stop and drop hands. 

“Hey, you ok?” Hailey whispers, pulling at the strap of her crossbody bag. Her heart is racing so severely that she can barely hear anything other than its beat. Silently Hailey hoped they were doing a good job pretending to look at, what were these, books about archeology? Sure, she hoped they looked like they were interested in Indiana Jones’ type shit. But, then she remembered her friend powers of concealment. 

Morgan replied softly, “Yeah, now I am.”

“So, details?”

She watches the way her friend’s cheek twitches a little as she contemplated what she was going to say. It was funny and completely Morgan. 

“Um, so…You saw the guy with the bun?” she asked.

“You meant to say, ‘The one with the shoulders?’”

“Yeah, his name is Jim. We met at that bar I like on W 48th one night.”

“Uh huh. And?”

“And then we met up again a bit later.”

“On purpose?”

“No, we just both managed to be there.”

“And?”

“And… we made out in an alley. Then, I walked home.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

“So, he’s not a spy for some shady ass agency trying to recruit you?”

“What? NO!”

“Shhhhhhh,” came a hiss from somewhere further in the library.

“Are you sure he’s not with an agency? Did you run any background work on him?”

“No, I don’t know his real name.”

“Why not?”

“Because,” She paused, scrunching her face up before she finished, “I just wanted that moment for myself, ok?” Morgan huffed her answer at her friend as she closed her eyes, and leaned against a shelf. “I just wanted to be the girl that the guy wanted to pick up at the bar. I wanted to be wanted for nothing else than being myself.”

Hailey smiled at her. 

“Um, he’s hot." Morgan nodded in agreement. "And built. Did you give him your number?”

“Nope.”

“Why not?”

“I didn’t think I’d ever see him again. I didn’t want to be disappointed when he didn’t call… OW! What the fuck was that for?”

Morgan was rubbing the spot where Hailey's just pinched the shit out of her arm.

“For not getting the hot guy’s number. How was the kiss?”

“It was good,” Morgan was smiling, remembering the evening. “It was as if I looked over a menu of physical things I could ask for, and I placed my order, and poof, he’s what I got. I freaking ordered off the menu. It was amazing.”

Hailey smiled and raised her eyebrows suggestively at her friend. “So, go out there and find him.” Morgan scoffed. “He said your name, and I know he saw you. Sure as fuck looked at least a bit interested. I’m willing to bet he’s not far from here.”

Morgan looked at her friend who was diverting the fact that she’d seen a ghost of her past. 

“But, what about Steve?”

Hailey took a deep breath. “What about him?”

“Do you want to see him again?”

“I just did. I think that is enough for now.” Hailey mumbled that last part and Morgan pulled her into a hug. 

"Good enough, then."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Frankly, this is a mess.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “A grenade-launcher?” She asked, a smile in her voice.
> 
> “Yep,” Bucky chuckled.

Steve woke with a start. He found himself sitting in his bed, straight up, trying to catch his breath. Scanning his room, everything is as it should be.

He’s alone.

That’s when he hears it. The noises that pulled him from his slumber.

Slipping out of his bed, he tiptoes to his door to investigate.

“YES!” Bucky’s hissed whisper echoes down the hall.

Steve freezes mid-step, his hand poised to turn on the doorknob. A moan soon followed the previous noise through his door.

“Christ, you taste like chocolate.”

Steve felt the small smile creep across his lips. Bucky has a girl over. Or maybe a boy. Whichever, Bucky sounds like he's enjoying someone’s company in his room.

“It was the ice cream, and you know it, Jim.” A female voice whispered right before a soft thud sounded. Her voice was quiet enough that ordinary people might not have heard it, but for Steve, her words rang in his ears.

“Shhhh. Don’t wanna wake my roommate,” he heard his best friend say, then follow with a moan and Steve almost felt guilty because he shouldn’t be listening.

Silently crossing back to his bed, he lifts his phone and turns on his white-noise app. Getting back to sleep would not be easy. Naturally, his thoughts slip back to Hailey, and he feels the stirring of desire somewhere south of his navel. Grumbling slightly, he turns over roughly and silently begs for sleep to take him and release him from this purgatory.

————————————————————————————

Morgan couldn’t make her mouth shut, no matter how much she thought about it. The views were stunning.

Standing in front of the floor to ceiling windows without turning on any lights, and looking out over the city-scape, she realized that Jim lived in Stark Tower, well, now Avengers Tower but yeah, you get the jest of it. And his apartment was pretty high up. Not quite the penthouse but there didn’t appear to be many floors above them.

Seems that working in Security paid more than she’d anticipated but it makes sense. You put your life on the line; you better get the coin for it. Morgan felt her mouth start to close and the warmth at her back reassured her that Jim was there.

“We need to talk,” she said before realizing the thought had crossed her mind.

They didn’t move an inch. Jim’s reply surprised her.

“Yeah, we do.”

She leaned back into his solid form, turning her head to listen to his heart, absorbing his warmth and smell. Morgan felt him drop a kiss onto the top of her head as his hands rubbed her upper arms before landing on her shoulders.

Jim led her to the expansive couch that was only a few steps behind them. He chose to sit on the large leather ottoman in front of her.

“I need to ask you something.” His words made her furrow her brow a bit. She thought she knew where this was leading. He knew. Surely he knew.

Nodding her agreement, she said, “Go ahead.”

“Do you feel a difference between my arms?”

Huh? She swallowed. “Come again?”

Jim took his hand from where they’d been on his knees and turned them palm up. She looked at his hands. They looked the same. Placing her hands out, she waited for his ok. With a slight nod, she lowered them until her palms sat on each of his hands. They felt mostly the same as she ran her fingers across the calloused skin. His fingers pulled up a bit and tickled her palms.

That’s when she felt it. Morgan gripped his left hand lightly with her right fingers, and as his fingers covered hers, she felt the articulated movements instead of the fluid human touch.

Oh.

He was an amputee. Wait, no.

No.

Her eyes found his staring down at their entwined fists.

“Bucky?” she whispered.

The snap of his eyes on hers took her breath away. “Yeah.”

Time didn’t stop. It kept its march straight through this penultimate moment of their evening. Morgan couldn’t stop her brain from spinning through each moment they’d shared. Every touch, each kiss, the laughs, his dad jokes, all of it. But he wasn’t the only one with sins of omission, now was he?

“Disengage the veil,” she muttered, biting her bottom lip.

Bucky huffed and dropped her hands. Reaching through the neck of his shirt, he fumbled with something she couldn’t see. Once finished, he nodded at her.

Pulling lightly at the skin on his hand, she removed the veil, lifting it away from the silver metal. Without looking, she sat the piece of technology to her side and replaced her hand on his, feeling the slight coolness of the metal.

Morgan let her thumb feel every crevice and groove. Rubbing across his palm, she ran her hand around the back of his as she brought his metal hand, this weapon, up to her face. It felt cold against her lips as she kissed it, but it wasn’t cold. Nudging her face against it, Bucky let out a sigh that wrapped around her spine.

“I might still call you Jim, you know.”

“I might still answer, you know.”

She opened her eyes to smile at him but couldn’t say another word as his lips crashed into hers. This new hand she was so recently made aware of wound its way around her neck as he pulled her closer. His kisses were forceful and demanding. It made Morgan’s head spin and her breath catch.

This, this thing they were doing, it all seemed to be leading to something more than she ever imagined. She pulled away suddenly.

“Can I use your restroom?” she asked as quietly as she could.

Bucky nodded. “Of course. Down the hall and through my bedroom on the right.”

She gave him one last peck on the cheek and excused herself. Passing through his room, she picked up on everything that was him. The minimalist approach he had to interior decorating yet an immense closet filled to the brim with clothing. Business finished and washed up, she took a look at her reflection in the mirror. She had to tell him. Now was her time. It was their time. She had to reveal herself to him, and this time, she wanted to let him in.

Dialing her abilities to her version of eleven, she made her way back into the living room. Bucky had his back to her. He turned his head to look at her but seemed disturbed when his eyes didn’t land on her immediately.

“I know you’re there. I can feel you,” his voice was a deep timbre. “But I can’t find you.”

Morgan walked around the couch and slowly made her way to stand in front of him. Gradually easing off of her powers, Bucky’s eyes snapped directly to her the moment she was ready to be found.

“What the hell was that?” He asked. “Is it magic? Wait, are you related to Steven?”

“What? No, I’m not related to Captain America? What are you talking about?”

“No, not that Steven… Doctor Strange. Steven Strange. That guy with the gold circle things that fucks with reality.”

Morgan laughed. She’d heard of this doctor, but she didn’t think she was related. Shaking her head back and forth, she replied, “No. I’m not related to any supers that I know of.”

Bucky made his way towards her. “That day, in the store with all the makeup. I saw you. I know I saw you.”

“Yeah.”

“But you never left the store.”

“But I did.”

“You did. And then you were there, on the street.”

“Yeah.”

“That was this?”

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

“I have my reasons.”

“Okay.”

“Okay?”

“Yeah, okay. You’ll tell me one day?”

“One day.”

“But not right now?”

“No. Not right now.”

“Why?”

“Because I want you to stop talking and maybe pin me up against that wall.”

She could hear him swallow. Lips crashed together as arms wrapped around each body creating shapes and shadows in the moonlight. He drank in her moans while both of his hands grabbed her by her ass and hoisted her off of her feet. Instinctively her legs wrapped around his hips and he walked them to the nearest wall. He didn’t slam her against it, but when he leaned into her with the force of his weight, she pulled on the hairs she’d just run her fingers through, exposing his neck. Morgan kissed up the tendons that led from his collarbone to his jaw.

“YES!” Bucky moaned, his voice echoing throughout the quiet apartment.

She moaned loudly as she released his hair and he fit their mouths together. Bucky’s teeth nipped her bottom lip before the kiss took and even hotter turn.

“Christ, you taste like chocolate.”

“It was the ice cream, and you know it, Jim.” Morgan squeezed him between her thighs, and he moved his mouth down the column of her neck, before taking a handful of her breast and ghosting his thumb over her nipple. The sensation coursed straight between her legs, and she let her head thud against the wall a bit harder than anticipated.

Bucky smirked up at her, “Shhhh. Don’t wanna wake my roommate.”

She laughed silently. That was before she felt his excitement make itself known between the two of them. He rubbed her in precisely the right spot, and she couldn’t stop the moan that escaped this time.

Morgan had no idea how he did it, but with a spin, Bucky was walking them to his room, his mouth never leaving hers.

He kicked his door shut a little louder than she was expecting but it was hot. The look that passed behind his eyes was that of possession and determination. Releasing her legs from around his waist, he helped her stand on her own. His right hand pushed an errant lock of hair behind her ear as his metal thumb caressed her cheek.

One kiss on her lips and he dropped both hands, finding the edge of her shirt. Morgan nodded and raised her hands, letting the soft cotton be removed and exposing her dark purple bra over pale skin. Bucky stopped and stepped back. His eyes tracked every single imaged tattooed across her body.

Flowers bloomed over her chest, a diagram of an atom encircled her shoulder, and two birds to flight on each upper arm. A "Pride and Prejudice" quote on her inner ink-sleeve, the octopus, wrapping its tentacles through a double helix, and across a microscope on the other arm, and the skulls with bones intertwined throughout her other ink-sleeve. Bucky's eyes cataloged them all. She was art in human form. Her story, written across her body in permanent ink, and he’d only cracked the first chapter.

Stepping into her space again, Bucky used the back of his right hand to trace the lines and colors she’d had etched into her.

“You see me,” she whispered to him, her eyes searching for something.

“All of you,” he replied, his voice sounded like gravel. He brought his left hand to the ink on her shoulder, running his index finger under the strap of the bra. Bending the metal into a hook, he pulled the elastic fabric down her arm, the small plates making little noises as they changed to adapt. HIs right arm wound around her back until he found the clasp holding her undergarment together and deftly pinching then releasing it.

Turning his flesh and bone hand, he let his fingers pull the other strap down, and he looked down as her bra fell from her chest. Full breasts with nipples that hardened in the cold air. Again, with the back of his hand but this time, the metal one, he touched her soft skin, making her breathing stutter as he passed from one breast to the other.

Morgan closed her eyes as Bucky took his time destroying her. She felt his right hand make it’s way down her waist and over the lace panties, cupping her mound. Reaching out, her hands pressed against his chest as she searched for her balance. She grabbed at his shoulders, desperate for purchase because falling over right now would not be sexy. That’s when she realized her hand landed on his soft charcoal sweater was where his body changed from metal to man. And she didn’t do anything different with this realization.

Soft lips started whispering about the lovely, dirty, and borderline fantastical things he’d thought about her. All of the things he wanted to do to her, his detailed dreams, and some very specific promises, all breathed across her ear, causing the fabric between her legs to grow damp with her arousal. It made her squirm lightly, and she felt his chuckle through his chest.

Bucky pulls the fabric away from her pussy, his fingers finding the wetness that was his fault. His breathing picked up, finally, and he explored this woman in front of him. Morgan’s lips found his, and this kiss was all tongue and teeth and desperation as his middle finger parted her folds and slid in. The calloused thumb he was swirling on her clit had Morgan swallowing moan after moan.

He felt her inner muscles clenching at only his finger, and he hoped he’d prepared her enough. Bucky wasn’t ready for her to wiggle away so suddenly.

“Not yet,” Morgan whispered as she turned towards the bed. That’s when his brain shorted out on him. Bending over, she put one knee then the other onto the bed to crawl up towards the pillows, exposing her pussy to him. But it was the “seams with buttons” she had tattooed from her ankles to the tops of the back of her thighs that almost made him cum in his pants.

“What the hell?” he muttered before practically ripping off his sweater, taking the undershirt with it. Morgan turned at looked at him over her shoulder.

“See something you like?” she asked.

“Yeah.”

Raising his hand to his lips, he sucked the taste of her off his middle finger, then groaned at her taste.

Bucky stalked towards the bed, his own hands working to rid himself of clothing. He pushed his pants and boxer briefs down in one swift movement.

“Whoa,” Morgan muttered to herself. It brought Bucky up short. Well, not short but it stopped him in his tracks. “Everything ok?” He asked.

She nodded, “Oh yeah.” She’d situated herself on her side, where he could see her plump ass, her lips damp and peaking out between her cheeks.

“See something you like?”

“Yeah.” This time she laughed a little at her answer and how wanton she sounded. Bucky was not a small guy, in any department. Morgan felt herself clinch at the thought of him entering her.

“Do you have something?” Morgan asked tentatively.

Bucky turned his head a little, “As in...?”

“Protection?” Pausing, Bucky then gives his answer.

“Well, I have three types of knives, my Glock 26, a few Glock 19s, the SIG-Sauer P220ST, a COP 357 Derringer .357 Magnum Intratec TEC-38, not to mention the CZ VZ 61 E Skorpion close by. And we have a few Colt M4A1s, one fitted with an M203 grenade launder, a Galil MAR, and a Barrett M82A1M.

Oh, and an FN Mk 13 and my personal favorite, the Mikor MGL Mk 1L.

Also, Captain America is sleeping next door. So, yeah, I have protection.”

Morgan’s mouth was open slightly. “I don’t… I, uh,… yeah, that’s not at all what I meant,” she muttered. “I was talking about condoms.”

Bucky lets his eyes crinkle a little at the sides as he reaches towards his bedside table and opens the slight drawer there, pulling out several foil sleeves. “You mean these?”

Morgan nods at him. “Yeah, those magnums. Not the whatever Magnum Tec .357 gun you were talking about.”

The smile that Bucky gave her made her heart jump a beat in her chest. He gave himself a quick pull as he crawled onto the bed and up her body, kissing the sides of her thigh, bracketing her body under his arms. Morgan ran her hands all over his arms and shoulders, and Bucky leaned in for a searing kiss. One hand found her knee and pulled her legs apart, situating her on her back, his bulk sifting back on his knees as he started trailing kisses down her neck.

One finger dipped back into her, and she arched her back, forcing her nipples almost directly into his mouth. Small nips of his teeth were just painful enough to send shivers to her clit, and she felt a small amount of wetness coat his hand.

“What the hell, dude?” She looked down at him right as he took his now wet hand and ran it up and down the length of his cock. He didn’t reply as he wedged his broad shoulders between her legs, and his mouth descended on her sweet pussy.

One swipe of his tongue against her lips made Morgan grab a handful of the sheets in one hand while the other tangled her fingers into the back of his hair. Had his arm not been wrapped around her thighs, she might’ve come clean off the bed.

Bucky nipped and sucked and fucked her with his tongue, and his fingers holding her close as he nudged her clit with his nose until she came against his mouth, eyes closed.  She came hard, more wetness rushing out, with Bucky lapping up every last drop. Placing one more light kiss on her swollen pussy, he pushed himself up, and she opened her eyes to see him pulling the top sheet over to wipe his mouth and neck.  

“I’d apologize, but you taste too damn good.” Gone was the gravel in his voice. Now, it sounded like pure velvet. She watched as he was stroking himself with his flesh hand, and his dick was nothing short of impressive. He tore into the little square and rolled the condom onto himself in one fluid movement. Knee-walking back up the length of her body, he found her pussy with his hand, gathering more wetness, which he spread across the head of his cock.  Covering half of her body, Bucky ran his dick through her puffy lips, moaning into her ear.

“Fuck…” was the only word she could make out. Not that she was trying. Her brain stopped working. Completely.

He pushed into her slowly, and Morgan gasped. It was a tight fit, just on the right side of full. Once wholly seated he stopped moving.

“God, you’re tight,” he whispered into her right ear. “So fucking tight.”

She squeezed him and tried to lift her hips, and he groaned low. “Bucky, please, please move.” Each of her words were stuttered and coordinated with grasps from her internal muscles, begging him to move.

Slowly sliding out, then pushing back in, they found a rhythm. Morgan wrapped her legs around his waist, and he pulled out to sit back on his knees, dragging her by her waist as he guided himself back into her. She arched her back on the bed as he worked her over, careful to not hurt her, his thumb making circles on her clit.

“Come on me, Morgan.” He tilted his chin up a bit as he muttered, “I wanna feel you.” And with that, he slammed into her once, twice, and a third time more, moaning as his cock slid through their combined wetness.

It was as if lightning struck. Every nerve in Morgan's body sparked as her little death crashed over her like a wave of pure ecstasy. She scrambled against him, pushing down hard onto his member, as her tight cunt pulsed around him again and again and one last long time.

Head tossed back, mouth open, no sound escaped her wordless cries as she came harder than she had in her life. Bucky was right there with her, his moan taking her by surprise, feeling his pulse inside of her, filling her again.

She coughed when she tried to breath, the back of her mouth dry.

“Shit,” Bucky muttered, hands on her hips, holding her to him, and not letting go. She felt his dick move a little inside her. “Sensitive,” he huffed as she cracked her eyes to take in the scene.

This beautiful man was on his knees, in bed, with his cock still buried deep inside of her pussy. Chestnut brown hair was covering most of his face as his shoulders slumped forward, and his chest heaving for breath.

He raised his hand to push his hair behind his right ear and then, he looked around for his sheet. Tucking it under her, he slowly pulled his softening dick from her, careful to hold onto the now full condom.

“Mmm…” she moaned, not wanting to let him go just yet. Morgan closed her eyes as she felt her release seeping onto the cloth beneath her. Once entirely out, he slowly backed off the bed and walked into the bathroom. He returned with a wet towel, running it light between her legs, taking care with her lady bits as he cleaned up their mess.

Depositing the soiled fabric back in the bathroom, he landed in a lump beside her on the bed. She turned to look at him and smiled before practically sliding into a pile of limbs on the floor on her way to using the facilities herself. Morgan’s legs felt like Jello.

Returning to the scene of the crime and climbing over the king-sized mattress, she looked at him laying flat on his back, her breathing mostly back to normal.

“That was…” she tried to say, and just like that, she didn’t have words.

“I know babe,” he answered and kissed the tip of her nose. “I know.” Gathering her in his arms, he moved them so she had her head on his right should, his metal hand holding her thigh across his.

“A grenade-launcher?” She asked, a smile in her voice.

“Yep,” Bucky chuckled. “Now, sleep.”

And they did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp, this thing has taken on a life all of its own.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I saw you, but I didn’t see you,” the woman kept talking, “It was like you were suddenly just, there, boom.” 
> 
> “Boom?” Morgan asked.
> 
> The blonde smiled, “Yeah, what it sounded like in my head when I knocked you over. Boom.”

“Shit… I’m so sorry,” Morgan barely heard the words as she tried to catch the breath that was knocked from her chest. Looking up from her unfortunate location on the pavement, she made eye contact with the female who was responsible for knocking her on her ass. The blonde standing over her stretched her hand down in an offer to help her back up to her feet.

“I saw you, but I didn’t see you,” the woman kept talking, “It was like you were suddenly just, there, boom.” 

“Boom?” Morgan asked.

The blonde smiled, “Yeah, what it sounded like in my head when I knocked you over. Boom.”

Getting a better look at the person talking more at her than to her, Morgan wondered how she was knocked on her ass by this little wisp of a thing. She was finally able to draw a full breath, and some of the jarring tension seemed to be melting out of her shoulders. Her fingertips, however, were freezing from the connection with this woman’s hand.  
With a pull that lied about her size, Morgan was soon standing and just staring. Slowly, she straightened her back and attempted to knock dust and debris free from her pants leg, never taking her eyes off this woman. Her brain was scrambled, but not from the fall because no one had ever noticed her before, not when her powers were up. 

In a low voice, Morgan heard herself asking, “How did you see me?”

“Oh, I don’t know that I saw you at all,” the other woman stated before she started looking around her. “Not until you were on your way down.”

Morgan still didn’t understand. She could make herself, well, not invisible, but unnoticeable. When she wanted, she could walk across Manhattan, and no one would see her. Not one soul. Not a single person saw her if she didn’t want to be seen. Morgan watched in amusement as people walked all around her, splitting like a stream finding it’s course around a large rock. Not a single person bumped into her. 

See, that was the good thing about this particular power of hers. It would appear as if she wasn’t there, but they still sensed her, possibly feeling her presence, but no one ever made eye contact. No one ever touched her, no matter how jam-packed the streets and crosswalks could get. 

Now, standing in the middle of the afternoon on a hot day in the middle of July, Morgan was holding the freezing cold hand of a girl she didn’t know. Nodding, she squeezed the other woman’s hand before releasing her fingers. 

“I guess it’s my superpower,” Morgan joked awkwardly. The woman’s ice-blue eyes snapped to her as she turned her entire body to face Morgan. 

“Are you with an agency?” She asked, squinting her eyes at Morgan.

“What? No. Who?” Morgan stammered out. Shit, she’d just outed herself in the name of making a joke.  
“Are you one of them?” the blonde asked her.

Morgan didn’t know how she was gonna get herself out of this. “One of who? What are you talking about?”

Exhaling a sudden breath that passed over Morgan’s face with the chill of an air-conditioner, the other woman spoke softly, “Who are you?” 

Her eyes betrayed her as a small tear threatened to spill from her right eye. Morgan only wanted to prove her innocence. Of what, she wasn’t even sure, but it seemed important if it elicited that type of reaction in such a short amount of time. But for some reason, Morgan also had the urge to flee. 

“I gotta go,” she answered instead of giving her name, and she turned her back to the blonde. Willing herself to not be followed or seen, she stalked into the crowd. She disappeared and hoped never to see the woman that ran into her again. 

Of course, fate is fickle, and they would encounter one another only a few weeks into the future. This time with more of a bang than a boom.

“What in the hell?” a female voice echoed through the aisle of the small bodega. The blonde walked to the end of her row and peered around to see what type of incident was about to go down in this city of madness and mayhem. There stood the woman she’d run into and almost over on the street, and who she’d then watched disappear in front of her. And this woman was staring at a slowly leaking bottle of orange juice that was on its side, a cracked bottom visible in the plastic. In her hands were about five other jugs that looked as if they were trying their damnedest to fall from the cooler shelf they lived on. 

Morgan’s eyes snapped up in time to see the blonde staring at her.  
“Um, a little help here?” she almost begged her new acquaintance. 

Tip-toeing around the orange puddle on the floor, the slightly shorter woman reached out and took two of the jugs of juice, letting Morgan manage to set the three remaining on another shelf that appeared somewhat more sturdy. Surveying the damage, she reached for the additional jugs and added them into the cooler before stepping aside and letting the door shut. 

“Clean up on Aisle 1,” Morgan joked to herself as she navigated around the puddle, following the blonde away from the mess. Before giving it a second thought, she reached out and lightly grabbed the other woman by her bicep, “Hey, thanks for the help.”

The blonde turned around quickly, and Morgan dropped her grasp, her fingertips still frigid from the contact. “Don’t touch me,” she whispered harshly. She stared into Morgan’s eyes for a brief moment before turning to make her way out of the shop. “What’s your name?” Morgan shouted at her back. 

Turning on her heel and stalking back to where they’d been standing together before, the lighter-haired woman stopped and took a deep breath. “My name is not your concern. If you don’t know my name, you can’t find me. And if you can’t find me, I won’t be caught. So, quit looking. Quit asking so many questions.”

Morgan didn’t wanna give up though. Unsure why, she felt that this woman, this blonde creature was important. Sure, she was attractive, but there was something else that seemed unique, only to her... for her life. 

Almost above a whisper, “But I don’t want to let you go,” slipped from Morgan’s lips. The other woman stopped from where she’d tried to make her exit, again. She turned her head and took a deep breath that raised her shoulders almost to her ears, exhaling through her nostrils. 

“Hailey. My name is Hailey.” 

“Morgan.”

And with that, she was gone. Morgan rushed out the doors of the store only to have lost sight of her. She neglected to look down the alley to her left. Had she turned that way instead of to the right, she might’ve seen Hailey lurking in a darkened doorway at the end, poorly hidden behind a dumpster. Hailey had her phone out and was calling the guy she was sleeping with a the moment. She needed him. 

Literally.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feedback feeds my soul... and my muse.


End file.
